Getting Nowhere Fast

Captain Douglas Kramer's voice shook as he leapt from the captain's chair.  The situation was deteriorating quickly... and it was about to turn violent.

The Khalindarians had seven vessels on site.  All of them had shields up and weapons on full power.  The Bartokians only had five ships... but they were in the same condition as their Khalindarian counterparts.  By contrast... there were only four Federation vessels: The Starlight, the Birmingham, the Tokyo, and the Orion.  Four ships in the middle of an ass-kicking.  Not good odds by anyone's standards.

"Sir... we haven't been able to raise Starfleet Command."

"Typical.  Bastards probably don't even care if we get blown to hell or not.  Have you been able to raise anybody on long-range comm?"

"So far... only two ships have even bothered to answer.  The San Diego, but she would take a couple hours to get here at maximum warp.  I did manage to raise the DeSoto... she should be here in ten minutes."

One ship.  About as useful as a water pistol in a phaser fight.  Still... beggars couldn't exactly be choosers.  "Steady as she goes... let's hope cooler heads prevail."

Almost the instant the words left his mouth... one of the Khalindarian ships opened fire.  A massive array of blue energy bursts flooded forward.  The Bartokian target had apparently seen this maneuver before, as it deftly swerved away from the attack.  The Tokyo wasn't as fortunate.  It took the full brunt of the attack.

"Damage report!"  Kramer knew the captain aboard the Tokyo.  Bill Carruthers.  Good man.  Terrible poker player.

Lieutenant Ostransky scanned the tactical array.  "Jesus... their shields are down to 38%... hull damage on six decks... warp drive is off-line."  His voice carried the inflection everyone was thinking.  One shot did that.

The Bartokians had already begun returning fire on the Khalindarian vessels.  What they lacked in size and armament, they made up for in maneuverability.  They were using a classic "stick-and-move" tactic... hitting at the Khalindarian vessels and then moving away quickly.  It was during these maneuvers that Kramer saw how the Bartokians probably managed to do so much damage to the Khalindarian fleet.  When the Bartokians attacked, they put themselves between two Khalindarian ships.  After they fired upon the first Khalindarian vessel, they moved out of the way... and the two Khalindarian ships opened fire... hitting each other.

"I'll be damned... they're using the Khalindarians' own firepower against them."  Kramer's observation was interrupted by a jolt rumbling through his own ship.  "Status!"

"We caught a graze from one of the Khalindarians.  Minimal damage... shields holding."

Well... they had been fired upon.  "That does it.  Target the first ship that passes in front of us and let them have it."

"Aye, sir."  One of the Khalindarian monsters loomed in front of them.  The same one that had blasted the Tokyo.  "Locked on."

"Fire."

The Starlight let loose with a barrage of phaser and quantum torpedo fire.  Every last shot hit the Khalindarian square on.  Ostransky checked his marksmanship.  Shaking his head, he said, "Sir... direct hit on all accounts.  Their shields are down to 57%; they lost a couple of fore phaser banks.  Other than that... nothing."

Kramer looked back, incredulous.  Four torpedoes and a full phaser burst, and that was it?  "Keep firing!"

"Yes, sir."

The other Starfleet vessels were not faring much better.  The Tokyo had sustained another hit... and they were already out of the fight.  The Orion was listing badly to port, massive hull damage showing all over the saucer section.  In the background, one of the Khalindarian ships exploded in a massive burst of orange light.

"Captain... we are being hailed.  It's the DeSoto."

"About damn time.  This is Captain Douglas Kramer of the Starlight."

The screen filled with the image of the female captain of the DeSoto.  "Captain Eve Ordalani-Ringo.  We understand you needed some assistance."

"That's putting it mildly.  The Tokyo and the Orion have already sustained damage.  And we aren't having much luck putting a dent into these Khalindarian bastards."

"Go after the undersides of their ships.  Their armor is the weakest at that spot."

Kramer nodded.  Ordalani-Ringo was Bartokian... if anybody knew the weak spot on a Khalindarian ship, it was her.  "Understood.  We'll coordinate our attack patterns with you.  Kramer out."  He turned back to Ostransky.  "Link up with the tac chief on the DeSoto.  Let's see if we can't put one of these sons of bitches out of the fight."

The two Starfleet vessels moved as one, circling and then diving beneath one of the Khalindarian ships.  The two ships fired as one... hitting the monster ship solidly.  As they swept up from underneath, they almost had a head-on collision with another Khalindarian... and as they moved out of its line of fire... it opened up on its own compatriot.  The already damaged vessel exploded.  In the distance, another Khalindarian ship was starting to break up... and another was taking massive fire from two Bartokian vessels.

As they moved into attack formation on another Khalindarian, the DeSoto was hit solidly by two torpedoes.  "Mister Ostransky!"

"Those were voraks, sir.  Bartokian shield-killers.  The DeSoto's shields are down to... 31%."

The Bartokians firing on one of their own.  Poetic irony.  "Keep the attack going... we aren't out of this one yet."  The Orion exploded in the distance.  The Birmingham was getting hammered by one of the remaining Khalindarian ships.  It was firing back with everything it had... but it was obvious that the heavily armored and armed Khalindarian was going to win that slugfest.  The Tokyo was little more than a spectator by this point.  It had suffered too much damage to continue... and was at the point where even running wasn't an option.  Amazingly... it seemed as if the Bartokian ships hadn't suffered a single casualty.  They seemed to thrive in this chaotic hit-and-run style of battle.  The Birmingham finally succumbed to the Khalindarian onslaught, but not before firing one last crippling salvo into their killer.  Mere moments later, one of the Bartokians finished off the damaged ship.

"Sir... one of the Khalindarians has targeted the Tokyo!"  In the ship's damaged state... it couldn't survive any hit.

"Lock onto that ship and hit it with everything we've got!"  Kramer returned to his seat as the Starlight opened up on the slow-moving Khalindarian target.  They hit with every single shot... torpedoes detonating on the armored hull of the vessel... phaser fire striking repeatedly.  The ship began slowing... fires breaking out at various points where they had been struck... and then, the ship began to implode on itself... before rupturing into a ball of fire.  Cheers went up from the bridge crew of the Starlight.

"That's the last of them, ma'am."  Sular Dimohn Itaki glanced back.

Standing from her seat, Ti Klec Cerina Ringo walked over, patting the shoulder of her Conn officer.  "Well done, Dimohn.  Well done, everyone."

"Ma'am... what about the remaining Starfleet vessels?"  Korishma Korrine Blail joined her commanding officer on the floor.

Cerina glanced towards the viewscreen.  "Status report on the remaining Starfleet vessels."

Braize Arloc Udeski checked his tactical panel.  "One of them is barely operational.  Severely damaged.  One has some minimal hull damage, shields at 72%, warp drive damaged, but functional.  The second... shields at 45%, structural damage, aft torpedo bay off-line."

"Have any of our other vessels reported being fired upon by the Starfleet ships?"  Cerina turned to her communications officer.

"The Rostig took a quantum torpedo hit from one of the ships... and the Lotono thinks they might have been hit by some phaser fire."